Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced Monday that he met with Nasser Kamel, the secretary-general of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM).

"Started the week discussing w/Nasser Kamel, SG of @UfMSecretariat steps to be taken for stability & development of Mediterranean," said Çavusoğlu on Twitter, sharing a photo of the meeting.

Earlier, Faruk Kaymakçı, Turkey's deputy foreign minister, also held a "fruitful meeting" with Kamel.

"We discussed issues related to our common home of the Mediterranean and opportunities for cooperation," Kaymakçı added.

Turkey is one of the founding members of the UfM, which is an offshoot of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership Process that began in 1995.

The UfM is an intergovernmental organization of 42 member states from Europe and the Mediterranean Basin, including the 27 European Union member states and 15 Mediterranean partner countries from North Africa, Western Asia and Southern Europe. The union has the aim of promoting stability and integration throughout the Mediterranean region. It is a forum for discussing regional strategic issues, based on the principles of shared ownership, shared decision-making and shared responsibility between the two shores of the Mediterranean.